St Aidan's Catholic Academy

St Aidan’s Catholic Academy is a thriving, happy and highly ambitious school where pupils are proud to attend and consistently meet leaders’ high expectations. Inspectors found exceptionally strong relationships between staff and pupils, high attendance, positive attitudes to learning and a caring culture in which pupils treat others with courtesy and respect. The school provides a highly ambitious curriculum, and pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils achieve exceptionally well. The school’s personal development offer is a particular strength, helping pupils develop deep respect for other faiths and cultures and preparing them exceptionally well for life beyond school. Careers guidance is broad and effective, reading is central to the curriculum, and staff feel well supported. Leadership is strong, governance is knowledgeable and effective, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The main area for improvement is the sixth form, where the curriculum is not consistently effective across all subjects and some students do not achieve as highly as they could. Leaders are aware of this and have detailed actions in place that are beginning to have an impact. The school is part of the Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust and shares its sixth form with a girls’ school in the same trust. This was a graded inspection, and under current arrangements the school did not receive an overall effectiveness grade.

Strengths

• Highly ambitious and coherent curriculum prepares pupils exceptionally well for their next steps.
• Swift identification of SEND needs and highly effective support help all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieve highly.
• Pupils have exceptionally positive attitudes to learning, high attendance and strong behaviour.
• Reading is central to the curriculum, with rich texts and effective support for pupils who need to catch up.
• The personal development programme is extraordinary and prepares pupils exceptionally well for life beyond school.
• A broad careers programme gives pupils a clear sense of direction for their future.
• Staff-pupil relationships are exceptionally strong, creating a caring and respectful culture.
• Leaders manage staff workload and well-being well, and staff are proud to work at the school.
• Governance is a strength, with governors knowing the school well and holding leaders to account effectively.
• The sixth form offers a broad range of subjects and generally prepares students well for education, employment or training.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum impact is not consistent across all sixth-form subjects, so some students do not achieve as highly as they could.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at St Aidan's Catholic Academy attended 93.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 18.6% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 5.9% of pupils at St Aidan's Catholic Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 4 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 St Aidan's Catholic Academy had 18.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 10.2% of pupils at St Aidan's Catholic Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 St Aidan's Catholic Academy received £7,041 and spent £6,625 for each of its 993 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £80,000 (-£80 per pupil).

Across all 30 schools of Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, income was £7,338 and spending £7,295 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Sunderland · Sunderland local authority: places and applications

St Aidan's Catholic Academy is part of Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, which runs 31 schools. The nearest others:

• St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Sunderland Sunderland
• St Anthony's Girls' Catholic Academy Sunderland
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Sunderland Sunderland
• St Leonard's Catholic Primary School, Silksworth Sunderland
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Sunderland Sunderland
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Ryhope Sunderland
• English Martyrs' Catholic Primary School, Sunderland Sunderland
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Seaham Seaham
• St John Bosco Catholic Primary School, Town End Farm, Sunderland Sunderland
• St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School Seaham

What is St Aidan's Catholic Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Aidan's Catholic Academy is Outstanding, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was St Aidan's Catholic Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Aidan's Catholic Academy was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does St Aidan's Catholic Academy have?

St Aidan's Catholic Academy has 1,057 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Aidan's Catholic Academy cover?

St Aidan's Catholic Academy for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are St Aidan's Catholic Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 53.6, and 59% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Aidan's Catholic Academy?

St Aidan's Catholic Academy is at Willowbank Road, Ashbrooke, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR2 7HJ.